St. Tammany Parish authorities say a former teacher and Boy Scout leader now living in the Covington area has been arrested on charges of child pornography, oral sexual battery and attempted simple rape of a juvenile, and detectives are investigating to determine if there are other possible victims.

The St. Tammany Parish Sheriff's Office said Friday (June 27) that Dennis Mischler, 62, 81245 Oak Lane, is a former New Orleans teacher and scout leader. The sheriff's office said detectives believe he may have been victimizing children for a number of years in those parishes, as well as possibly Arkansas, where he lived for a time after Hurricane Katrina.

Capt. George Bonnett of the St. Tammany Parish Sheriff's Office said Mischler taught and was a Boy Scout leader in New Orleans prior to moving to Covington, but did not have details about where he taught or when.

Interim Orleans Parish schools Superintendent Stan Smith said Mischler was hired by the Orleans Parish School Board in August 1984 and worked for the district through Hurricane Katrina in 2005. He then was rehired by the district from January 2008 to August 2008.

Smith said information was not immediately available Friday evening about what schools Mischler worked at. But Kathy Riedlinger, the longtime principal at Lusher Elementary who is now the school's CEO, said Mischler worked at the central office and in several schools, including Lusher for a period prior to Hurricane Katrina. The Advocate quoted a district spokeswoman saying Mischler most recently worked at Mary McLeod Bethune Elementary School prior to retiring.

Don L. Ellis, scout executive/CEO of the Southeast Louisiana Council of the Boy Scouts of America issued a statement Friday afternoon: "While we cannot immediately confirm whether or not this individual was involved in scouting, these types of allegations are intolerable. That's why we work to keep kids in the scouting program safe through a comprehensive program of education on child abuse, the chartered organization leader selection process, criminal background and other checks, policies and procedures to serve as barriers to abuse and the prompt mandatory reporting of any allegation or suspicion of abuse.''

Mischler was arrested May 29 on a warrant charging him with child pornography and he was booked into the St. Tammany Parish jail. He was released May 31 on $100,000 bond with the requirement that he not have any unsupervised contact with juveniles.

The investigation continued and Mischler was arrested again Wednesday (June 25) on warrants charging him with two counts of oral sexual battery involving a juvenile and one count of attempted rape involving a juvenile, the sheriff's office said. He was booked again into the St. Tammany Parish jail.

Those arrests stem from incidents that allegedly happened in 2005-2006, the sheriff's office said. The sheriff's office also said Mischler is currently being investigated for similar crimes in another jurisdiction.

The sheriff's office asked anyone with knowledge of the case, or anyone who believes they may have been a victim or know a victim of Mischler, to call Detective Warren Keller at 985-276-1339.